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Published: June 10th 2006
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Hola chicos y chicas,
For those of you that didn’t know, my stint in the USA last year failed to satisfactorily scratch the traveling itch that has haunted me for the last 2 years or so, so about 5 weeks ago I booked a flight to Guatemala. I’ve now been in the historic ex-capital, Antigua, for a week and I thought I’d let you all know a little about my time here before I head off on a tour.
I arrived last Thursday and was greeted by the sight of mountainous volcanoes and lakes a-plenty. The land was green and the sun was shining - that was until about 5 minutes after I landed at which time the heavens opened and I was welcomed to the Guatemalan wet season in spectacular style. My connection to Antigua was a daunting trip. The roads were of poor quality and lacked sufficient drainage. I had never seen puddles get so deep so quickly, and had to laugh at those unfortunate souls attempting to ride their bikes towards the warmth and shelter of wherever they were headed.
Anyway, I finally arrived in Antigua and almost by magic, mother nature turned the taps
off, and the sun came out to dry up all the rain ( so that incy, wincy…). I checked into the Spanish school that would be my home for the next week, put my bags down and 14 hours later awoke form my deep slumber chomping at the bit to investigate this old colonial city.
It was a Friday morning so all of the residents besides me were in class. After having met a few in their break time I headed out along the cobbled streets towards the Parque Central, a Guatemalan Trafalgar square of sorts, where I promptly meet a bunch or Dutch tourists who seemed to be admiring the risqué fountain centre piece as much as myself. It is said that the water that pours from their hand clasped mammaries symbolizes the water of life or the milk that Jesus supped on in his younger years. Whatever the truth may be, the fountain seems to be pushing the boundaries in this overwhelmingly Catholic city.
I spent the next couple of days on an excursion to the postcard picture perfect lake Atitlan, a huge collapsed volcano surrounded by indigenous villages and new and improved volcanoes. In Panajachel
- I went shopping and quickly learned how to barter in Spanish. It seems that if you say “Es muy Carro” (it’s very expensive) and turn your back on the seller, you can get almost anything for cheaper. I managed to get myself a typical Latin top for 60 Quetzales (about 4 quid) which I proudly wore for the rest of the day.
The group that I was with and my good self then headed the 14km across the still lake towards the village of San Pedro. It turns out that San Pedro is a haven for Central America’s hippies, and so our stay was “muy tranquillo” (very chilled out). Having crawled from hippy hang out to hippy haunt (the Budda Bar to Freedom that is) I found my way back to my 2 pound penthouse which afforded brilliant vistas over the lake and its surrounding villages for an after party. This country is mega cheap - I tell thee!
After 1 night and a quick session of kayaking I headed back to Antigua.
On Monday I met my Spanish teacher, a 24 year old called Reina. We started our lessons and I quickly established that I
was gonna have to speak Spanish to her all the time. Thus is actually quite difficult. Anyway the lessons have been going fine and I can now hablo espanol mas mejor (speak a bit more Spanish). However I seem to be a master of SpanGlish so consequently I now have lots of homework!
I’ve been on a couple of excursions this week and sampled much of the local cuisine - I even made the guacamole for my school mates when the school hosted a party of sorts. I visited a coffee finca (plantation) and learned how my caffeinated friend is made. It’s all picked by women and children as young as 7 thanks to Mr Nescafe and his corrupt friends, so spare a thought for the little people the next time you take a sip. It sounds like backbreaking work!
I also attended a couple of salsa lessons, so watch out Basingstoke and Bristol. This Gringo is coming your way soon and he means to cut some mean shapes - Latino stylie. I actually was getting the hang of it by the end of my second lesson. I just have to practice being a little less jerky and
a little more suave.
The highlight of my week has to be climbing Volcan de Pacaya, an active and continuously erupting volcano, where I climbed to 2500m (that’s about 2400+ higher than back home), traversed a river of cooled magma and came within about 4 meters or a moving lava flow, all while fighting the elements - yes it was still raining! It might sound obvious but it was intensely hot at the mouth of the volcano. The ground was warm under foot as well and I managed to dry off despite the heavy rain to my surprise.
Did you have a similar experience Mark?
Anyway, I’m off to the West coast tomorrow, to a village called Monterrico, where I hope to watch Leatherback turtles and much more frolic in the Cool Pacific waves. I’m then off to Rio Dulce and Livingston for a few days on the Caribbean coast.
I’m well and the food hasn’t poisoned me yet. I hope all is well back home. Is there any news? - I’d love to hear from you guys.
Hasta luego chicos y chicas
Lorrenzo
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Livvy
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wow lawrence!
hey lawrence, livvy here. Sounds like your having a great time and it's nice to hear from you. Your pictures are really cool. i like the 1s with the fountain and volcanoe and their comments because they made me laugh( im guessing the group of Dutch tourists admiring the fountains were boys)!I don't think theres anything amazing happeing here at the moment, but there is one thing i have 2 say ... MMMMMMMM.....BARBEQUE, BIG TASTE SPICY BARBEQUE! lol Love ya lots and lots, and hope to hear from you again soon, Livvy xxx